fossils

Cephalopoda is the scientific name for the mollusc group that includes the chambered Nautilus, squid, and octopus. Two extinct types are found at the C & D canal: the Nautilus-like ammonites and the superficially squid-like belemnites. Ammonites are uncommon, especially complete specimens, but can be very useful for age determination. The belemnite species Belemnitella americana has been so abundant at some canal localities that it was named the state fossil of Delaware.

Pelecypoda is the group of molluscs referred to as the bivalves. Most pelecypods have a pair of hinged shells of generally equal size. Clams, oysters, and scallops are well-known types. Pelecypods can be abundant in the sediments of the C & D canal area.

Gastropoda is the scientific name for the group of animals more commonly called snails. Gastropods have a single coiled or uncoiled shell and are common fossil types in the Cretaceous sediments of the C & D canal area.

The Calvert Formation, deposited in a shallow sea during the late Oligocene and early to middle Miocene (15-27 million years ago), contains a very rich fossil microflora, both in terms of number of specimens and number of species. Most abundant are pollen of oak, pine, and hickory, but exotic taxa (those that no longer occur in Delaware) are present in all samples of this formation. They include pollen of Engelhardia type, Manilkara, Planera (water elm), Alangium(?), and palms.

Borehole Oh25-02, located about 3 miles southwest of Lewes, Delaware, ends at a total depth of 1,337 ft in a mid-Oligocene glauconitic silt unit. It penetrated 317 ft of glauconitic sands and silts between the base of the Calvert Formation at a depth of 1,020 ft and total depth. A hiatus at 1,218 ft separates an outer neritic lower Miocene interval (Globorotalia kugleri Zone) above it from a deep upper bathyal mid-Oligocene (G.

The Delaware Academy of Science has been instrumental in informing Delaware citizens about science and utilization of local resources. Since 1970 the annual meeting of the Delaware Academy of Science has been used as a time for presentation of ongoing research in various areas of science in the Delaware region. The proceedings of these meetings have resulted in publication of transactions of the Delaware Academy of Science. The 1976 annual meeting focused on aspects of the geology of Delaware.

Brachiopods are shelled invertebrate that look somewhat like bivalved molluscs. However, the animal living in the shell is a filter feeder that collects food with a special organ called a lophopore (bryzozoa also have lophophores).

Bryozoans, sometimes referred to as "moss animals," are a type of simple colonial animal that mostly lives in marine environments (a few inhabit freshwater). Bryozoans feed by means of a lophophore, a small ring of tentacles covered with tiny cilia that are used to filter food from the water. Bryozoan colonies are protected with a covering of organic materials or calcium carbonate. Some calcium carbonate forms may be found as fossils in the Cretaceous strata near the C & D Canal.

While sampling the lower Miocene Calvert Formation at the Pollack Farm Site, 30 fossil fish taxa were collected, consisting of 24 cartilaginous and 6 osteichthyes fishes. The fossils found in the lower Miocene bed have similar characteristics to an equally aged Formation in southern Delaware suggesting deposition occured in a subtropical, shallow-water, near shore environment.